


Crossed Connections

by Aklusmos



Series: Meet the Family [1]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Post Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24481711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aklusmos/pseuds/Aklusmos
Summary: Rule #1 when you're dating and own the same phone: make sure it's your phone before leaving the house.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: Meet the Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1779025
Comments: 11
Kudos: 284





	Crossed Connections

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lauravenclaw](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lauravenclaw/gifts).



> From the tumblr prompt:  
> 7) Carlos and TK have the same phone’s model. One morning, while in a hurry, TK grabs accidentally Carlos’ phone. He’s waiting for a call so, when the phone rings, he doesn’t even look at the caller ID and answers. He doesn’t expect it to be someone looking for Carlos, his mother.
> 
> I did take take a bit of artistic license to tweak the prompt a bit :)

As of late it seems TK is spending more nights at Carlos’ place than at home, he muses, as they sit across from each other at the breakfast table. The greatest testament to that is the extra toothbrush in the cup in the bathroom and the spare uniform he’s starting keeping in Carlos’ closet for mornings such as these. This morning is a simple affair of coffee and oatmeal for the two of them and TK enjoys the quiet domesticity of it. They still haven’t actually defined what it is the two of them are doing but it seems like they’re heading towards something. It’s definitely a conversation they’re going to have to have at some point, most likely soon, but for now he’s just content to enjoy the moment and the warm feeling in his chest whenever he looks at Carlos during these calm moments.

The moment doesn’t last too long though as he notices the time displayed on the kitchen stove and realizes they need to get moving to make it to work on time.

“Hey we better get a move on before we’re late,” TK’s words seem to jolt Carlos into action. He sweeps the dirty dishes from the table and lays them in the sink to be dealt with later. TK takes a quick second to appreciate this display and then starts moving himself, grabbing their phones from where they’re charging on the kitchen counter. He pockets his and holds the other out to Carlos; he takes the phone with a smile and leans in to give TK a lingering kiss.

“Are you coming back here again tonight? Or do you need to run home?”

“We’ll see where the day takes us but seeing you again is definitely on my agenda. You know, you can always come back to my place too.”

“Yeah, because that won’t be awkward at all with your dad there. Hey Captain Strand, I’m just here to sleep with your son,” Carlos rolls his eyes.

TK gives a quick laugh, “I don’t know how it is with your family but my dad definitely knows what’s going on, so no explanation will be necessary.”

Carlos must show some of his guilt on his face because TK continues on, “Hey none of that now, me and my dad are weirdly close. We haven’t really talked about how your family is with the whole gay thing so if it’s not the same don’t feel bad.”

“No, they’re fine with the whole gay thing but they’re a bit more old fashioned than your dad. It would definitely not be ok to sleep in the same bed under their roof before marriage.”

The mention of marriage sends TK’s heart racing just a bit and he’s unsure if it’s from fear or excitement, “Well up north things aren’t so drastic. We really do need to get a move on though, we can continue this conversation later.”

Carlos plants another firm kiss on TK and they both head for the door.

* * *

The morning has been fairly quiet, only one minor incident involving some idiot getting trapped on the roof of his house after accidentally knocking down the ladder. Despite this, there’s a never-ending to-do list keeping them all busy in the firehouse. It seems the shift before them hadn’t had such a quiet time. They’re just finishing cleaning and about to start on lunch when the alarm goes off.

The call turns out to be a small kitchen fire. They’re able to contain it pretty quickly but there’s still a fair amount of smoke damage to the house. The only person at home at the time of the call was an older Latino man who’s currently sat on the front steps being assessed by Marjan.

TK is starting to pack away some of the equipment when he feels his phone vibrate in the inside pocket of his jacket. He finds this odd because everybody that would normally call him are either currently at this scene, Carlos who is also at work, and his mother who is in Beijing. His confusion further skyrockets when ‘Dad’ is displayed on the caller ID. TK furrows his brow in confusion before hitting accept.

“Hey dad, what’s going on? Is your radio broken?” TK glances around the scene trying to find his father.

“Carlos?”

TK pulls the phone from his ear and looks at it with a quick beat of confusion before he realizes he’s not holding his own phone but Carlos’. Well shit. He can hear the sounds of a man, Carlos’ father he realizes, continue talking before he panics and hangs up. TK still isn’t sure what Carlos has told his family about him. His father rounds the corner of the fire engine as the phone starts ringing again. TK can see his dad frowning in his direction as Owen notices the phone in his hand, it’s not exactly professional to have one out at a scene. Owen opens his mouth, probably to reprimand him, when he glances down at the phone sees ‘Dad’ on the caller ID once again and shoots TK a confused glance.

“Please don’t tell me that’s what you have Carlos saved as in your phone.”

TK lets out a squawk, why is his dad like this? The phone is still ringing and TK isn’t sure what to do with it. He’s torn between answering, and potentially revealing things to Carlos’ family that he doesn’t want them to know yet, and just hitting ignore so he can explain the entire situation to his own dad. He’s too slow to make a decision though and the call goes to voicemail.

“It’s not what you think,” TK manages to get out before the phone starts ringing again. At this point, with three calls in the span of two minutes, TK assumes that there must be something serious going on with Carlos’ family and he debates answering to explain the entire situation.

He decides he’ll just get in contact with Carlos when he notices the man on the phone step is frowning down at his phone. He sees the man hit a call button and then the phone in his hand starts ringing once again. His dad is still giving him a weird look when he puts it all together. He’s not holding his own phone but Carlos’ and apparently there’s been a small kitchen fire at his family home and his father is trying to get in contact with him. He lets it go to voicemail once more.

“This isn’t my phone,” he gets out quickly to his dad before scrolling through the contacts and hitting his own name. His dad is looking at him like he’s nuts but he can explain the whole situation to him in a few minutes.

“TK?” comes the confused voice on the other end of the call.

“I guess you’ve realized we accidentally switched phones this morning,” TK can see the look of comprehension and relief settle across his dad’s face.

“Yeah, I guess so. I can meet you for lunch if you need to switch back before the end of your shift,” Carlos sounds a little apprehensive, they’ve never called each other in the middle of a shift before.

“Yeah that’s fine but your dad has called your phone like four times.”

TK can hear Carlos’ small intake of breath.

“We’re currently at a call at 1112 Lakewood Hills Terrace,” TK informs Carlos.

“Shit. Is everyone OK?”

“It was only a small kitchen fire, nothing to be too concerned about. Am I right in assuming this is your parents house though?” TK can still feel his dad’s eyes on him during this exchange.

“Yeah,” Carlos’ voice is soft. “I’m on my way there now, can you wait until I get there?”

“Not a problem, see you soon,” TK hangs up and turns towards his dad bracing himself for the inevitable third degree. He can already see a smirk forming across his dad’s face and lets out a sigh, “We accidentally switched phones this morning.”

“I’m not going to lie, that’s a lot more comforting than my initial read on the situation,” Owen gives his son a wry smile. “So have I met the inlaws?”

TK groans and rolls his head away, “ _I_ haven’t met his parents yet, can you please not be weird about this?”

“Yet?” Owen throws a smirk in TK’s direction.

“Please stop.”

TK is waiting for more teasing to come when Carlos pulls up in his squad vehicle.

“Wait, I thought this was just an accident? Why are the cops here?” TK can hear Mateo on the other side of the property. This draws a bit more attention to Carlos’ arrival.

Carlos wastes no time in jumping from his vehicle and swiftly making his way to the man on the front steps. TK watches a terse exchange of words at first before they both reach some sort of understanding and he can see Carlos’ shoulders slump in relief.

By this point the equipment is all packed away and TK is unsure if he should hang around longer. He knows they made plans to meet up tonight earlier today but with everything that’s happened he’s not sure if that’s still on the table. There’s also the matter of the phone that he’s holding is not actually his. He figures at bare minimum they should take this moment to switch back phones but he’s still unsure of how to go about it when he’s unsure what Carlos’ father knows.

TK takes a steadying breath and starts to walk towards the front porch where Carlos and his dad are still in conversation. As he nears he can hear the tail end of their conversation.

“I know you’re busy as a police officer but how did you know to show up here when you didn’t even bother to answer my calls?”

Carlos draws in a quick breath and TK almost turns around and bails at this point but then he can feel a hand on his wrist. Carlos has grabbed on to him and apparently has no intentions of letting him go.

“I didn’t have my phone on me but TK let me know you needed me here.”

All things considered, it’s probably the nicest way to phrase _we-were-too busy- making-moon-eyes-at-each-other-this-morning-that-we-didn’t  
-even-notice-we-switched-phones-until-now_. TK flashes a smile in Mr. Reyes’ direction, hoping to sell the whole situation, whatever it is at this point, to him.

“TK?”

TK can hear the confusion in Mr. Reyes’ voice so he reaches a hand forward in a hand shake, “Hey, I’m TK Strand and, uh, I guess I kinda work with Carlos.”

He’s trying to leave what they are up to Carlos, he’s not sure if Carlos is ready to be fully out about this relationship, whatever it is, to his family. Carlos’ comments about not sleeping in the same bed from this morning come back to him and he thinks maybe the whole cell phone swap may be a big deal to his family because of the implications of it and now he’s panicking a bit. His dad decides to join them on the front porch at this moment.

Great.

He’s glancing over at his own father trying to convey with his eyes to follow Carlos’ lead on this one. His dad either does not get the message or chooses to ignore it.

“Hey, I’m Owen. It’s nice to meet you. About time us inlaws have met, am I right?” Owen throws a sly wink and a hand towards Carlos’ dad.

There’s an awkward moment of silence where Carlos’ dad just stares at Owen’s hand in confusion. TK and Carlos are looking wild-eyed at each other trying to decide what to do with this situation as Owen wilts when his handshake isn’t reciprocated.

“What the hell is this _gringo_ talking about Carlos?”

“The name’s Owen actually,” he can hear his dad quietly defend.

“Uh, well,” Carlos stutters, trying to buy time. ”I guess me and TK are kinda, sorta, dating?”

Carlos glances over at TK as if to gain confirmation and TK nods trying to diminish the awkwardness of the situation.

“You guess? Kind of? What’s that supposed to mean?” Carlos’ dad apparently did not get the _‘I do not want to talk about this right now’_ vibe.

“We’re dating,” Carlos answers stiffly.

Another moment of awkward silence passes with TK and Carlos holding their breath for the fallout.

“And you haven’t told your mother yet?” Carlos’ father whistles in amusement. “How long has this been going on? You know she’s going to box your ears for not telling her right away?”

Carlos lets a little sigh of relief out which TK takes as a sign to relax. Maybe everything will be ok.

“It’s still pretty new,” Carlos glances over at TK. “I was going to tell you both soon.”

“Oh but the _gringo_ knew all about it, hey?”

Owen clears his throat, “Well to be fair to the _gringo_ TK is living with me at the moment so it’s not like you can hide things like these.”

TK silently thanks his father for trying to diffuse the situation, maybe they’ll be able to escape this now.

“Well, we should really get back to the firehouse right dad?” TK glances to where the rest of the crew is waiting near the fire engine parked on the side of the street. “It was really nice to meet you Mr. Reyes.”

Carlos throws him a look of betrayal but TK can’t envision any positive outcome of prolonging this encounter. He’s about six steps away when he realizes he still hasn’t switched back his phone with Carlos. He stops, makes a slow turn and then extends his right hand with the phone clutched in it. They silently exchange phones. Carlos’ father watches the exchange with crafty eyes.

“Family dinner tomorrow, no excuses.”

TK and Carlos look at his father with surprised expressions.

“Owen, it would be nice to have you and your wife there as well.”

“Ah well, me and TK’s mom divorced about 15 years ago but you can count me in.”

Carlos’ dad gives a quick nod and then TK and Owen are escaping back to the fire engine. All’s fair in love and war right?

* * *

“That went a whole lot better than I could have imagined today,” Carlos is wrapped around TK that night.

“Says you. I thought your dad was about to demand I marry you for your honour for a second.”

“Not that I wouldn’t say no, but I don’t think there’s any need to rush towards that,” TK can feel the grin forming at the nape of his neck. It’s been an interesting day for sure.

“Well things could’ve gone worse. Like, for example, your dad could’ve been in earshot when my dad thought I had saved you as dad in my phone,” Carlos squawks at this revelation.

“Why can’t there be a middle-ground for our parents?” Carlos groans.

“Well our mothers haven’t met yet so there’s still hope,” TK turns around so he’s facing Carlos.

“You want our mothers to meet?” Carlos raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I guess I do,” TK smiles. He can feel his heart thump, suddenly nervous, and then he continues, “I always want my parents to meet my boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend has a nice ring to it,” Carlos smirks as he nuzzles his nose in TK’s neck.

TK takes a depth breath and relaxes, “Yeah, it really does.”

The next morning they double check they have the right phones before heading out.


End file.
